Suffolk voters approve ballot measure extending length of county legislative terms
Few voters were seen coming in and out of Birchwood Intermediate School in Huntington on Tuesday around 3:20 pm during voting on Election Day. Credit: Newsday/Jean-Paul Salamanca
Suffolk County voters approved a referendum Tuesday to extend the length of terms for county legislators from two to four years in a rebuke to the state shifting local elections to even years.
Winners in the Suffolk races will serve a truncated three-year term and can run for reelection in 2028. If the referendum, Proposition 2, had failed, they would have had to run again in 2026, essentially restarting the campaign shortly after being sworn into office in January.
Statewide, voters were asked whether to amend the state Constitution to allow an Olympic sports complex to build new Nordic ski and biathlon trails in the Adirondack forest preserve. Development in the Adirondack Park requires constitutional permission.
The latest results Tuesday evening showed the proposal slightly ahead, according to the state Board of Elections.
The ski and biathlon trails would be part of the Mount Van Hoevenberg Olympic Sports Complex in North Elba, Essex County. The project would involve up to 323 acres, and the state would buy 2,500 acres of land to add to the preserve as an offset. The State Legislature must approve the offset.
In Suffolk, Republicans introduced the legislation to lengthen legislators' terms in response to New York shifting local elections to even years starting in 2026. They argued changing the term length would avoid three elections in four years, but some experts have cautioned it could be ripe for a legal challenge because it changes term length for candidates currently on the ballot. A previous effort that failed in 2020 would not have changed the term length until the next election.
County Executive Edward P. Romaine signed the Term Limit Preservation Act in July after it was passed with bipartisan support through the legislature, allowing the measure to appear on the Election Day ballot.
The proposition also changes the county’s 12-year term limit law to allow a legislator who reaches a 12th year in the middle of a term to be extended. For example, Legis. Leslie Kennedy (R-Nesconset), who won Tuesday, reaches her 12th year in 2027. Kennedy can continue to serve through 2028.
"This important measure ensures that our elected leaders can remain focused on serving the people and tackling the real challenges facing our communities," Romaine said after signing the bill in July.
Legis. Kevin McCaffrey (R-Lindenhurst), the presiding officer who will be term-limited at the end of the year, previously told Newsday that lawmakers would not have pursued the change if local elections remained on odd years.
"It’s all craziness," McCaffrey said Tuesday evening, "you know, running three times in four years."
Republicans, in campaign materials, have urged voters to pass the proposition. Mailers from the Suffolk County GOP Committee said "Vote yes to term limits," although the proposition does not change the current 12-year term limits.
The Suffolk Democratic Party did not mention the proposition in campaign materials, according to campaign manager Keith Davies.
Suffolk Democratic chairman Rich Schaffer said late Tuesday that Democrats planned to challenge the legality of the referendum in an effort to invalidate it.
"I believe that it will be found unconstitutional, and that then the races would have to be run again next year," Schaffer said.
Voters soundly rejected a similar ballot proposition in 2020 when lawmakers also sought to change the length of terms from two to four years. In that vote, 70% voters rejected the proposition.
The circumstances, however, were different then. Lawmakers approved a bill in a party-line vote to set the referendum. Legis. Samuel Gonzalez (D-Brentwood) sponsored the legislation and Democrats endorsed it saying the longer terms provided more time for lawmakers to govern rather than campaigning.
Republicans at the time opposed the change and did not it endorse it in campaign materials.
Newsday's John Asbury contributed to this story.
Joe Werkmeister joined Newsday in 2022 and covers Suffolk County government and politics. He is a graduate of St. Bonaventure University and previously worked as the editor of two North Fork community newspapers.
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